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Daily Archives: January 20, 2021

This Site Published Every Face From Parler’s Capitol Riot Videos

Wired – “Faces of the Riot used open source software to detect, extract, and deduplicate every face from the 827 videos taken from the insurrection on January 6. When hackers exploited a bug in Parler to download all of the right-wing social media platform’s contents last week, they were surprised to find that many of the pictures and videos contained geolocation metadata revealing exactly how many of the site’s users had taken part in the invasion of the US Capitol building just days before. But the videos uploaded to Parler also contain an equally sensitive bounty of data sitting in plain sight: thousands of images of unmasked faces, many of whom participated in the Capitol riot. Now one website has done the work of cataloging and publishing every one of those faces in a single, easy-to-browse lineup. Late last week, a website called Faces of the Riot appeared online, showing nothing but a vast grid of more than 6,000 images of faces, each one tagged only with a string of characters associated with the Parler video in which it appeared. The site’s creator tells WIRED that he used simple open source machine learning and facial recognition software to detect, extract, and deduplicate every face from the 827 videos that were posted to Parler from inside and outside the Capitol building on January 6, the day when radicalized Trump supporters stormed the building in a riot that resulted in five people’s deaths…”

See also The New York Times – Parler Tries to Survive With Help From Russian Company – “The social network, popular with President Trump’s supporters, went offline last week after it was kicked off Amazon’s servers…”

In hidden message on WH website Biden calls for coders

Reuters: “The recently updated website for President Joe Biden’s White House carried an invitation for tech specialists savvy enough to find it. Hidden in the HTML code on www.whitehouse.gov was an invitation to join the U.S. Digital Service, a technology unit within the White House. “If you’re reading this, we need your help building back… Continue Reading

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, January 16, 2020

Via LLRX – Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, January 16, 2020 – Privacy and security issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, health and medical records – to name but a few. On a weekly basis Pete Weiss highlights articles and information that focus on the increasingly… Continue Reading

Here Is President Joe Biden’s Inaugural Address

BuzzFeedNews – text and Video: “”We’ve learned again that democracy is precious. Democracy is fragile. At this hour, my friends, democracy has prevailed.”… See also The New Yorker – “Joe Biden’s Love Letter to the Truth – On Wednesday, Joe Biden’s presence where pro-Trump rioters had recently smashed and looted was a victory for democracy… Continue Reading

Newspapers around the world react to Biden’s inauguration

CNN Business – “The culmination of Joe Biden’s journey to the Oval Office was seen far beyond Washington DC on Thursday, with images of his inauguration splashed across the front pages of newspapers around the world. Papers in most countries marked the dawn of the Biden era with pictures of the new US President taking… Continue Reading

Sales of US Constitution topped 1 million during Trump years

AP – “At the National Constitution Center, in Philadelphia, they like to joke that what’s bad for the country is often good for the organization. “Web traffic is through the roof,” says the nonprofit’s CEO and president, Jeffrey Rosen. “We had more than 400,000 visitors to our site in the days following Jan. 6,” when… Continue Reading

How to Play Board Games Over Zoom

MakeUseOf: “Playing board games has become significantly more difficult since the start of 2020s global health pandemic. Physical and social distancing has put all but an end to a hobby that you traditionally play in close proximity to other people. Fortunately, thanks to online video calling, you can still play board games with friends and… Continue Reading